I Drove A Steam Engine Passenger Locomotive Train - A True Life Story

This is a true life story about how I drove a steam engine
locomotive passenger train from one station to another, about 18
kilometers away. Those days, I was staying in a small place called
Ramanathapuram in the state of Tamilnadu, in India. We stayed in a
hired house in a small village called Uchippuli, about 25 km west of
Ramanathapuram. Tamilnadu as such, is a sandy barren place with Palm
trees scattered all over. Tamil Nadu receives rain only in November
and December, when retreating monsoon brings in some clouds.

So as
far as the eyes can see, it's all sandy plain with thorny bushes and
Palm trees spotting the landscape. Being close to the sea, the
groundwater level is fairly high and does not deplete. So whatever
little agriculture happens in Tamil Nadu is due to the bore wells
dug into the earth. People of Tamil Nadu, especially the poor
fishing folk, are very simple people, who only know how to love.
They are so nice even to visitors like us who despite being from
South India, cannot speak Tamil language.

Tamil is The Oldest Language in the World -
A True Life Story

All the South Indian
languages namely Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu came from the mother
of all languages called Sanskrit. So if you speak any one of these
south Indian languages, then you should be able to understand a
little bit of the other three. Tamil is probably older than Sanskrit
language and therefore did not develop its alphabets completely when
compared to other Indian languages. Yet, Tamil speaking people are
so ingenious, that despite this alphabetic handicap, they could use
the Tamil language to communicate much better than people speaking
the other Indian languages.

It is known that movies made in Tamil
beats most other language movies. This can be established by the
fact that a few Tamil movies were nominated for Oscar in the past
few years. Also, out of all the South Indian languages, the most
beautiful songs and lyrics are produced in Tamil language. I think
Tamil songs are far richer in lyrics and tune as well as orchestra
than any other language.

The World's Best Musician is From TamilNadu
- A True Life Story

No wonder, the world renowned music maestro
named Mr Ilayaraja is from Tamil Nadu and he mostly composes music
in Tamil language. I have seen in TV, how musicians from other
countries come down to Chennai, the Capital of Tamil Nadu called
Madras before getting renamed as Chennai, to create fusion music and
learn from this great music guru of all times. Mr Ilayraja is a very
small dark pleasant personality. But don’t be fooled by his figure.
He is too large a figure in the Music world, a living Legend.

Our working hours are over by about 2:00 pm. Thereafter, the two
of us would sleep for an hour post lunch, after which we just would
start watching movies till midnight. This true story was happening
sometime in 1990 when there were no mobile phones. Those days we
used to watch movies on video cassette players using video tapes. We
used to rent half a dozen videotapes once in a week and watch it
over and over so many times, that we literally memorized every scene
and every dialogue in each and every movie, of each and every actor
in all the movies.

Work, eat, watch movies and sleep were the only
things we were doing every day and we got totally fed up of this
monotonous routine. So we started going for a walk about two hours
in the evening aimlessly wandering more than ten kilometers around
the countryside. It was fun for a few days but, we were getting
bored again. So, we started going along all small footpaths in
between the fisher folk’s houses. The fisherman families lived in
small thatched huts.

Fishermen The Most Humble People in The
World - A True Life Story

The huts were made of thatched coconut and palm
leaf walls and roofs. Even the door was made of thatched coconut
leaves or some other type of palm leaves. Whenever we stop to talk
to them, we blurted out in our own local language in Tamil tune.
This was because we could neither speak nor understand Tamil which
is fairly different from our mother tongue which was Malayalam
Language, spoken in the neighboring state of Kerala where the two of
us belonged.

The fishing folks would ask us questions in Tamil
Language which the two of us could not understand and what we
replied the fishing folks families in Malayalam Language, they did
not understand. This would go on with every fishing family we met as
we went past their huts. But one common thing every fisher woman
told us, was to come inside their thatched hut for Shaapaad.
Shaapaad in Tamil means food.

The Unmatched Hospitality of Fishermen - A
True Life Story

These fishing folks did not have
enough to feed their own children and here they were inviting us
into their hut offering us whatever food they had at home. The two
of us never went inside those huts into which we could as such see
without using any X-Ray machine because the braided palm leaf walls
had so many holes that we could see what is inside with our naked
eyes.

We did not enter their huts because we did not want to eat
into the meagre food supplies they had, which was grossly
insufficient for their own family. But the hospitality showed by
each and every Tamil fishing folk family was amazing. They actually
wanted the two of us to come into their hut and have Shaapaad. Their
invitation was genuine.

Boredom Made Us Drive A Steam Engine Passenger Train - A True
Life Story

In a week's time we got bored of this fishing village walking
too. Then the two of us decided to walk along the railway line till
the next railway station called Mandapam, which is almost 18 km away
and take a bus back home. As we walked along the railway tracks the
evening train pulled by a steam engine would pass by. When the steam
engine locomotive came, we would get off the track and wave
frantically at everyone in the train starting from the steam engine
driver or pilot.

After about four days of walking along the railway
tracks and we were bored and tired of walking 18 kilometers daily.
It was really tiring and it would be almost dinner time when we
reach back. The thought of walking 18 km was preventing us from
getting out of the house for the next few evenings. We would rather
sit at home and watch the same movies we had already seen a dozen
times.

That is when I got another idea, to board the train from Uchippuli and
get down at the next station and walk back home so that we don’t
have to wait for the crowded bus back home. So the next day onwards
we would go wait at the Uchippuli railway station for the steam
engine locomotive to come, board in any compartment almost all of
which were empty on week days, because after another 35 km, the
steam engine locomotive ends its journey at a Hindu religious
pilgrimage place called Rameshwaram.

The Down To Earth Steam Engine Locomotive Train Driver - A True
Life Story

From Rameshwaram this passenger
train will revert back the next morning along the same route with a
different name and train number. Pilgrims go to Rameshwaram normally
on Saturday and Sunday. On the second day we decided to befriend the
steam engine pilot whom we have been waving at, while walking along
the track a few days back. Like any other Tamil speaking people, the
steam engine pilot was also very friendly and down to earth natured.

For the next two days, we were travelling in the steam engine pilot
cabin to the next station and walking back home by night covered in
black coal dust. Once again boredom started and we thought of
dropping the travel in steam engine. One reason was that the steam engine driver cabin was unusually
hot because of the coal burning furnace and we use to sweat like
pigs. Not only that, from the second day onwards the old steam
engine pilot even made us put some coal into the steam engine
furnace making his assistant in the cabin to sit idle and smoke
cigarette.

And that is something we did not like at all. When we
objected, he said that he will stop the train and throw us out. We
said, don’t you worry old friend, before you start moving we would
have boarded the passenger coach behind the engine. So don’t
threaten us. He would just smile. He was just joking. This
locomotive steam engine pilot had actually started liking us
boarding the driver cabin.

We Worked As Apprentice For Steam Engine Locomotive Driver - A
True Life Story

Being a loco pilot, he has to run this
train twice in 24 hours between Madurai railway station and
Rameshwaram railway stations for a distance of about 170 km, taking
a little over three hours one way. He belonged to Madurai and this
was probably his last assignment before his retirement that year.
But putting coal into the steam engine furnace was too tiring in
that sweaty hot cabin and we were completely black with coal dust on
our body and our clothes.

The two of us came home and discussed the
behavior of the steam engine pilot who made us work for him for
travelling without ticket in the steam engine locomotive that day.
Once again I had a new idea. Why not help him put coal into the
furnace a few more days and coax the steam engine locomotive pilot
to allow each of us to drive the steam engine locomotive passenger
train from one station to the next.

Although it looked impossible a
goal to achieve, we decided to give a try. We boarded the steam
engine locomotive once again the next day and voluntarily started
helping the pilot put coal into the furnace. Yes it is hard manual
labor. It didn’t matter to us now, because we had an aim in mind.
Even otherwise if one just stands in the loco pilot cabin, one will
start sweating profusely and get coated with coal dust. So it just
did not matter whether we helped him or not.

We did this trick of
helping the loco pilot for about three days boarding the loco cabin
at Uchippuli and getting down at the next railway station called
Mandapam, 18 kilometers west of our hired house and walking back all
the way. Since we were eager to drive the locomotive at least once
between any two stations, walking back 18 kilometers no more felt
like a long distance anymore. In fact, we both were eager and
looking forward to it.

For the next seven days the two of us kept boarding the pilot
cabin of the steam engine. I would put coal into the steam engine
furnace at least once during the 30 minute ride, getting fully
covered from face to ankles in black coal dust and after alighting
at Mandapam railway station, walked back 18 kilometers all the way
back home looking much blacker than pure African people, walking
along the unlighted railway tracks, at night.

We Demand To Drive The Steam Engine Locomotive Train - A True
Life Story

I mustered enough
courage on the eighth day and told the old man loco pilot that I was
not helping him for free. I expected him to teacher the two of us
how to pilot the steam engine of the locomotive train and finally
allow us to drive his steam engine train between Uchippuli and
Mandapam railway stations.

Amazingly, the old man agreed, despite his
assistant who has been working with him for over a decade and yet
was never allowed to drive the train by himself. There is another
reason why the old loco pilot agreed. Where we work, we have our
breakfast, lunch and dinner next to the railway track in an open
hut. The railway track runs along our boundary fencing just twenty
yards away. Our kitchen was an old abandoned railway hut.

We have
been waving at all trains whenever they pass by, during our meals
time. Most people in the train and the loco pilots also wave back at
us. When we met this old man loco pilot a few weeks ago, the first
question he asked us was really funny. He asked if our job was to
keep eating the whole day, because whenever he saw us it was meals
time and we were sitting in the small open air thatched roof dining
hall. So he knew we are from the Navy and we can be trusted.

Pillars of Rock Sounds Music At Meenakshi
Temple - A True Life Story

We too
never imagined that we will be befriending this old loco pilot. This
steam engine locomotive passenger train starts from Madurai railway
station which is about 140 km from Uchippuli railway station and
goes all the way till Rameshwaram, which is around 35 kilometers
from Uchippuli. The train runs just two trips in 24 hours between
Rameshwaram which is famous for the Sun temple, and Madurai, which
is famous for Meenakshi temple, completing about 175 kilometers one
way. The Meenakshi temple in Madurai is famous for its “Musical
Pillars”.

The singing stones are nothing but a few pillars carved
from a single solid granite stone, which when hit with a wooden
stick makes sound. Each set of these singing stones have got seven
granite rock carved like hanging pillars, each giving out the sound
of one of the 7 music notes. You have to see and hear it to believe
it. I had also visited Meenakshi temple and tested the singing
stones with a wooden stick. They actually make sound like music
notes by just a small tap of the stick on granite pillars. It was
like magic to me. I understand that such musical stone pillars exist
in many other temples throughout the Indian peninsula.
The Sun temple in Rameshwaram is where most old Hindus go to
worship. It is known to have 18 Wells inside the temple.

All the
eighteen Wells inside the temple dug along the inner corridors,
never dry up and all of them contains sweet water and not sea water,
despite the ocean located just 50 meters away from the temple. The
pilgrims run from one well to the other, pouring at least one bucket
of water over their head and body from each of the 18 Wells. I could
never believe it is sweet water.

So, one day I visited the Sun
temple in Rameshwaram and tasted the water in all the 18 Wells. I
would not have believed this at all, had I not tasted these well
waters that day, because I found all of them to have potable sweet
water in them. This is nothing less than a miracle. ven in my
wildest dream I would have never thought that the old man loco pilot
would agree to let us drive his steam engine locomotive.

I thought
rules do not permit that. Probably, those days the regulations were
not as hard and fast as it is today. And on a railway track to
Rameshwaram, only people on pilgrimage travel in this train, due to
which even train ticket examiners don’t board it to check tickets.
So, there is no way the railways would come to know, if I drive this
train.

The next day the old man started teaching the two of us how
to drive the locomotive steam engine. He did not teach us anything
more than what is required to start the train moving, how to control
the speed of the train and then how to break and bring the steam
engine train to a stop by reversing the steam into the engine
cylinders.

He also taught us how to pull a cord tied across the
cabin, that can be pulled standing anywhere inside the engine driver
cabin, to sound the typical steam engine whistling sound made by
using the high pressure steam, which I have been hearing right from
my childhood days and something which I have always felt to be
soothing. I have always loved hearing the steam train engine
whistle. Even in our school days the text book used the same steam
engine whistling sound amplitude, increasing and then decreasing, as
felt by an observer on ground, to teach the Doppler Effect.

But the old loco pilot placed a funny demand. He said the next
day he will let both of us drive that locomotive from Uchippuli
station to Mandapam and from there to the Rameshwaram railway
station, so that both of us can get a firsthand experience in
driving a steam engine passenger locomotive provided, we bring one
full grilled chicken along with us, which he said we will eat
together to celebrate our achievement on reaching Rameshwaram.

A Train Driver Taught Two Aircraft Pilots -
A True Life Story

In
fact, the old loco pilot seemed to be happy to have two students
under him, both of whom he knew were actual naval aircraft pilots.
The old man was about to retire from active railway service and
could not have wished for more in life than the satisfaction of
having taught two pilots, how to drive a passenger train. The old
man declared that the test drive of the locomotive steam engine
train will not be tomorrow, but will be done only on the Sunday
morning trip.

What the old man wanted was that one of us drive the
train from Uchippuli railway station to Mandapam railway station 18
km away and the other from Mandapam Railway station till Rameshwaram
railway station where the train stops finally, both distances being
18 kilometers each. Not only that, the old man was very considerate
as well because, he did not want us to walk all the way back 35
kilometers to Uchippuli.

The old man loco pilot also told us that we
have the option to board his train after visiting the Rameshwaram
temple four hours later, when his train restarts in the evening as
Rameshwaram to Madurai Passenger. In the last few weeks when we were
traveling inside the locomotive steam engine pilot cabin, the old
loco pilot had been introducing us to a lot of his railway staff
friends, all of whom had become our friends too.

So, we were very sure that no one is going to make a complaint
against us traveling in loco pilot cabin of the Madurai Rameshwaram
local train. Moreover, the railway staff in both these stations had
started treating the two of us with respect as the old man loco
pilot had started treating us like his two sons, whom he was missing
a lot, because they were married off long ago and are working in
some other part of the country and they do not visit him regularly
anymore. Often, during our half an hour train drive every day he
would tell us about the childhood stories of his two sons. He
actually used to shout over the loud sound made by the steam engine
locomotive engine and winds.

Finally, We Were Going to Drive A Steam
Engine Passenger Train

And finally that Sunday came. We had already tied up for two full
grilled chicken the previous evening itself, one each for the old
man loco pilot and his assistant, who was the only guy who could
report this matter to railway authorities. So keeping him happy was
a necessity. With the two grilled chicken packets in hand, the two
of us waited eagerly at the Uchippuli railway station. Unfortunately
everyone knows us in this railway station, they all wanted to know
what was in the packets we were carrying.

We said, we were going on
a picnic and it was our lunch. The steam engine came and stopped at
its usual position. The two of us jumped on board. We tossed to see
who should drive the steam engine locomotive passenger train first.
I lost the toss and my turn to drive the steam engine locomotive
passenger train was to be from Mandapam to Rameshwaram. I looked out
for the signal and indicated thumbs up.

My friend in his eagerness
to drive allowed the steam into the cylinders uncontrolled, by
rotating the rotary valve so fast, that the steam pressure made the
engine wheels to slip on the rails and rotate on the same spot, but
did not move the train at all. The old man took over and showed him
once again how to let in steam slowly to start the train moving from
rest as he had done the previous day. The rest of the procedures
were alright and the old man again helped him to bring the steam
engine passenger train to a stop at Mandapam.

I Drove A Steam Engine Passenger Train Between Two Railway
Stations - A True Life Story

The ten minutes stop
at Mandapam railway station looked as if time had stopped. Those ten
minutes must have taken at least one hour to pass by, because I was
all ready to start the train moving, all by myself. Now it was my
turn. I had watched all the mistakes my friend had made and I did
not want to repeat them so that the old man does not take over the
controls of the train from me like he did with my friend. The signal
turned green and immediately I pulled the cord to sound the whistle.
It was so thrilling just to sound the Steam Engine Whistle.

I did
everything as demonstrated and taught to us by the old man and the
train started moving very smoothly. The old man was impressed. He
somehow felt he could relax with me on the controls of his train. I
kept a good watch of the track ahead for any danger pulling the cord
to sound the whistle every now and then as it was giving me some
sort of thrill to do that. The old man knew I am using the whistle a
little more than required, but did not stop me from doing it. He
seemed to be having the satisfaction of having taught us how to
drive a steam engine train in such a short time.

Then came the famous Pamban Bridge which connects the Rameshwaram
Island with the main land. The road bridge is comparatively new. But
the railway bridge on which we were crossing the sea is considered
as an engineering masterpiece as it could open upwards to allow the
ships to pass under it and then, close again for the train to pass
over it, being the only such railway bridge in India capable of
achieving this feat for over a century. The Pamban Bridge also
happens to be the longest railway bridge over the sea in India.

I
was so engrossed in driving the train that 30 minutes went past in
just about five minutes and the Rameshwaram railway station was
visible far away on the horizon with the Sun Temple touching the
sky. The old loco pilot got up to take over control from me. I
looked at him with protest that it is unfair not to let me stop the
train as per our unwritten grilled chicken contract agreement. The
old man somehow seems to read my eyes. He sat down and looked
relaxed.

I Drove And Stopped The Steam Engine
Passenger Train Flawlessly - A True Life Story

I wanted to make no mistakes. I stopped the train using
brakes and the reverse steam technique and brought the steam engine
locomotive passenger train just a foot short of the mechanical stop
at the end of the railway track. If I were to overshoot, I would
have pushed the steam engine train through the railway station
building in front. I was thrilled with my achievement.

The two of us
shook hands with the old loco pilot and his assistant. Even they
both looked thrilled which I do not know if it was our achievement
or the grilled chicken packets we presented, which never lost heat
in that super-hot oven like loco pilot cabin. This true life story
was not over.As we were about to get down from the loco pilot cabin, the old
loco pilot hugged the two of us. He knew that we were not going to
come back again.

The two of them kept waving at us till we went out
of the railway station exit. We took a bus for our 35 kilometer
journey back home. Unlike other days when we used to take a bus at
night, after getting down from the loco pilot cabin of this coal
burning steam engine train, completely covered with coal all over
our body and dress, today we were out of the loco cabin much early
and broad day light at 2:00 pm.

Driving A Steam Engine Passenger Train Is
Intoxicating - A True Life Story

And travelling in that dress and
without a bath was something we had forgotten to cater for, before
starting from home. The local people in Tamil Nadu are mostly dark
skinned. Even these dark skinned people did not want to come
anywhere near the two of us completely covered in coal dust from
head to toe and stinking with the mixed foul smell of our sweat
mixed with de-odorants.

So we went back into the railway platform,
bought a bathing soap, a couple of Bermuda and T-Shirts from the
railway station shop, took a bath in the railway waiting room and
changed into them. Then we walked out of the Rameshwaram railway
station like two tourists wearing a pair of new T-Shirts and
Bermudas, but wearing the same coal covered, jet black socks and
sneakers which we had to reuse, because we were left with just
enough money for the bus ride back home.

As I tried to sleep that
night satisfied with the achievement and intoxicating feeling that Sunday, I was in deep
thoughts thinking this, “What do we do in the evenings from tomorrow?”